Pasta with a Meaty Red Sauce

I think one of the easiest dinners to throw together is pasta with a meaty red sauce. It is filling and delicious and oh so easy! Sure, you can pick up a jar of sauce but if I have a little extra time, I like to make my own.

trader joe’s has the best branding, right?!

This delicious red sauce is packed with lycopene, a carotenoid believed to reduce the incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and macular degeneration.

Unlike other fruits and vegetables, where nutritional content decreases when you cook them, processing of tomatoes increases the concentration of lycopene. There is four times the lycopene in tomato paste than in fresh tomatoes. Yum!

What to buy:

1 pound lean ground beef

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper

olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

4 tablespoons tomato paste

1 (15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon basil, fresh or dried

1 teaspoon parsley, fresh or dried

Meaty Red Sauce: (serves 4-6)

What to do:

brown beef in a pan over medium heat adding salt and pepper, to taste

once beef is browned, drain and set aside

place a tablespoon oil and onions in a pan and saute on medium heat until soft

add tomatoes and paste to another skillet, add meat and stir to cover, add all other ingredients including the sauted onions and heat through

simmer on low heat for approximately 1 hour, stirring occasionally

cook whatever pasta you like as directed by the box and serve sauce on top while hot, sprinkling cheese over your dish